


Oh! Christmas Tree

by Signe_chan



Category: Hockey RPF
Genre: Christmas, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-21
Updated: 2017-12-21
Packaged: 2019-02-18 03:04:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13091094
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Signe_chan/pseuds/Signe_chan
Summary: It's time for partner's charity auction christmas trees and, even if Tyson can't actually say to the world that HE'S Gabe's boyfriend, he can at least make sure whoever sees the tree knows that Gabe has someone who really cares about him.





	Oh! Christmas Tree

“You know, you’re taking this way too seriously.” 

“Shut up,” Tyson said, kicking at Nate. So what if he was taking this seriously, it was for charity! “You’re just jealous because you got dumped so PR’s done your tree.” 

“Yeah, no, try again,” Nate laughed. “Are those swedish candy?” 

They were. Real swedish candy, not swedish fish. Tyson had eaten a load of them last summer when he went over to visit Gabe and, okay, maybe they were more his favourite than Gabe’s but when he looked at them it just made him think of that summer and smile so he’d ordered some from the internet. 

Around them, the other partners were decorating their trees. Okay, most of them didn’t seem to have sourced international candy but that was whatever. Tyson wasn’t just going to throw a signed shirt in a basket and call it done. 

“Why are you even here? You don’t need to be here.” 

“Man, I’ve listened to you talk about this tree for weeks. I want to see Gabe’s face when he sees it.” 

Tyson kind of did, too. He’d worked really fucking hard, okay. When the call had gone out for them, everyone had teased him and said he’d half-ass it. Said he and Gabe might as well just do their own instead of doing each others. And, yeah, maybe he sometimes messed about but he wasn’t going to not try. Not with Gabe. He wanted everyone who looked at this tree to know that Gabe had someone who loved him. That he had a partner who gave 100% effort for him. 

He didn’t fuck around when it came to his relationship with Gabe. 

Thinking of which. 

The door banged open when Gabe came in, looking wind-swept and stressed out. Tyson stood back, giving Gabe a clear view. He waited as Gabe’s eyes scanned the room, landed on him, then slid to the tree. 

He got the reaction he wanted. For half a second, Gabe looked shocked, then just quietly pleased. He smiled and made his way over. 

“Hey,” he said. “I… that’s fucking amazing, Tys.” 

“Yeah, I know,” Tyson said, grinning. 

“Are those the candy I got you over the summer?” 

“I got them off the internet.” 

“And my brand of coffee?” 

“Yeah. I mean, it’s meant to be your favourite things, right.” Gabe nodded, not saying anything, and went through the other things Tyson had put together. Tyson watched, grinning. There was the obligatory signed shirt in there, of course, but everything else was picked because it was something Gabe loved or something that reminded Tyson of Gabe. 

He’d fucking rocked this. 

And Gabe was being suspiciously quiet. 

“Did I fuck this up? Is it too much?” 

“No,” Gabe said. He was a little wide eyed. It was hard to tell sometimes because the fucker always looked like a model but there was something deer caught in the headlights in his smile. 

“Gabe?” 

“It’s great, Tyson. You must have worked really hard on this, yeah?” 

“Yeah?” Tyson said, suddenly unsure. “I just...I wanted everyone to know that you’re an awesome boyfriend and that you’ve got someone who really gives a shit, you now. Even if we can’t be out.” 

“Yeah,” Gabe said, smiling at him. The little wrinkle around his eyes was gone so Gabe leant in for a kiss. Sweet. He knew he hadn’t fucked up. He was awesome. 

“So, what did you get for my tree?” 

The pinched look was back and, oh. Crap. He followed Gabe over to his tree, watched as he pulled things out of a bag. The jersey, of course. Tyson had signed that last night. An Avs snapback. An Avs tote bag. An Avs mini hockey stick. 

Oh. 

“I’ve been really busy,” Gabe said, a little too quickly. “I meant to get something better.” 

“Hey, no. This is fine.” It was fine. Just because he’d put in a lot of work. It wasn’t like they’d talked about it. It was just that, out of the two of them, Gabe was the one who tried harder to Tyson had thought…

But Gabe didn’t care about the trees, obviously. That was okay. 

“I didn’t…” 

“Gabe, it’s fine. It was fun, that’s all. It’s not a big deal.” 

“Okay.” 

“Okay.” 

**

It kind of was a big deal. 

Tyson didn’t want it to be, but lying in bed that night, he couldn’t stop thinking about it. Anyone could have put together that tree for him. PR could have done it. Someone who’d never met him could have done it. People were going to look at that tree and think he didn’t have anyone who really gave a shit. 

And it was stupid because he KNEW Gabe gave a shit. He saw it every day. He knew Gabe cared. 

But nobody else could know about them, not with things how they were in the hockey world at large. Not outside of the organisation. Normally, that was okay. 

It was okay. 

**

“So, are you still sulking.” 

“I’m not sulking.” What did Nate know? Just because Tyler didn’t feel like hanging out with anyone. 

“You’re sulking. Look, this was obviously a big deal to you. Have you actually talked to Gabe about it?” 

“It wasn’t a big deal.” 

“Tys…” 

“What am I going to say? Hey Gabe, I know it’s pointless and meaningless and it’s not like we agreed to do anything special but I’m still upset that you didn’t make me a super-awesome christmas tree for the charity thing?” 

“Well, yeah?” 

“Nate, I can’t just say that.” 

“Why not?” 

“Because it’s needy and weird and I don’t want Gabe to think I’m needy and weird.” 

“I thought we’d worked through all this not talking to each other stuff at the end of last season and you two were normal human now.” 

“Nate.” 

“Fine. I’ll bring ice cream, find a sad DVD. But only one sad DVD then we’re watching a comedy, okay?” 

“You’re the best, man.” 

**

Tyson was getting over it. He was, because it wasn’t a big deal. It wasn’t something worth worrying about and stressing out about. He’d moped with Nate and had sadness ice cream and he was okay now. 

When Gabe texted him to meet down by the trees, he almost said no. They were going live the next day which meant game which meant he had other things to be worrying about that his stupid feelings and how they’d been hurt over something so stupid. Something he didn’t even have the right to be upset about. 

But it was Gabe, so he went. 

The place was deserted when he got there so he let himself in. Gabe’s tree was in a good place so he went over to look at it. It was still good. He was fucking proud of himself. Why couldn’t that be enough. 

His own tree niggled at the side of his vision. He didn’t want to look at it, he’d only get pissed again. But just knowing it was there. 

Better to look at it now. Better to get it over with. 

He looked. 

When he was a kid, the family christmas tree had always been white and blue for the lightning. It still was, though they put Avs colours in now too. Gabe had re-done the tree. Taken all the default baubles PR had put up and decorated it like the tree that was standing in Tyson’s family living room right now. It looked fucking fantastic. 

He made his was over, slowly. The signed jersey was still there, but the rest was changed. His favourite candy, his favourite date movie, his brand of chips, giant fluffy socks like the ones he liked to wear around the house. 

Fuck. 

“Hey.” Gabe was lurking in the door, of course. And of course he’d done this. This was why he’d invited Tyson down here. “Did I do better this time.” 

“You did awesome, man. This looks…” It looked like someone loved him. Really fucking loved him. 

“I thought about what you said, about why you spent so long on mine. Wanting people to know I had someone who loved me.” 

“Yeah,” Tyson said, mouth suddenly dry. He hadn’t used that word. Love. Didn’t use it, not out loud anyway. It was a really fucking big scary word because it wasn’t the type of word you could take back later. There was nothing simple or easy about it. 

“I wanted your tree to look like that too.” Tyson nodded. Like he was loved. Because he was loved. Gabe loved him. 

Which, yeah. They’d been together nearly a year. They’d visited each other over the summer. Tyson spent more nights at Gabe’s house at this point than he did at his own but…

“I love you," Tyson blurted.

Gabe had apparently moved closer while Tyson was having his freakout because he was suddenly close enough to take Tyson’s hand. To squeeze reassuringly. “Hey, I love you too.” 

Tyson turned, wrapping his arms around Gabe and hiding his smile in Gabe’s neck. 

His boyfriend loved him. 

Forget the tree, this was the best thing.

**Author's Note:**

> This is part 2 of 12 days of hockey RPF and Check Please christmas fic. If you want to suggest a pairing or prompt for me, you can do so over at tumblr at signechan. 
> 
> This is my first time writing Avs fic. It's 90% Hils fault, 10% Avs chat's fault.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[podfic of] Oh! Christmas Tree](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17165204) by [Talahui](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talahui/pseuds/Talahui)




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